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Goodbye, Food Pyramid: USDA to Announce a New 'Food Icon'
By Marion Nestle

May 31 2011, 7:32 AM ET 3

The triangular nutrition guide, rendered useless by its latest redesign, is being replaced. Here's a preview of what's to come.

On May 26, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it will be releasing a new "food icon" to replace the foodless and useless 2005 MyPyramid, shown above.

The USDA's press announcement explained:

The 2010 White House Child Obesity Task Force called for simple, actionable advice to equip consumers with information to help them make healthy food choices. As a result, USDA will be introducing the new food icon to replace the MyPyramid image as the government's primary food group symbol. It will be an easy-to-understand visual cue to help consumers adopt healthy eating habits consistent with the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

What will the new icon look like? The USDA isn't saying, but William Neuman of The New York Times did some sleuthing. According to his account:

The circular plate, which will be unveiled Thursday, is meant to give consumers a fast, easily grasped reminder of the basics of a healthy diet. It consists of four colored sections, for fruits, vegetables, grains, and protein, according to several people who have been briefed on the change. Beside the plate is a smaller circle for dairy, suggesting a glass of low-fat milk or perhaps a yogurt cup.

Virtually anything would be an improvement. The Food Pyramid just made no sense to the average person. Nobody eats or plans by USDA 'serving sizes'. Telling people to eat 6 - 11 'servings' of grain was like letting a pig loose in a feedstore.

What will the new icon look like? The USDA isn't saying, but William Neuman of The New York Times did some sleuthing. According to his account:

Virtually anything would be an improvement. The Food Pyramid just made no sense to the average person. Nobody eats or plans by USDA 'serving sizes'. Telling people to eat 6 - 11 'servings' of grain was like letting a pig loose in a feedstore.

i disagree, it's people eating WHITE, refined grains that made this country fat as hell

The calories and the glycemic index are exactly the same for refined and whole grains. If you are slowly starving to death and living primarily off a handful of white rice and all the bugs you can eat, the white rice will kill you quicker by a week or two due to the lack of B vitamins. However, if that's your situation, you've got more important things to worry about than the USDA guidelines.

For overweight people, eating that much starch in any form (refined, unrefined, whole, fortified, etc.) is a big problem. Most people just don't work enough today to burn off all that sugar before it's stored as fat.

i disagree, it's people eating WHITE, refined grains that made this country fat as hell

I think refined foods are part of the problem, but I think that ready to eat food is a bigger part. When my grandfather was a child, potatoes and bread were part of every meal, but children couldn't serve themselves and buying some at "the store" wasn't something you did every day. By contrast, I myself and my neice and nephews all seem to think that going to the corner store or grocery store is an opportunity for a "treat". As much as I love my mother, this is her doing.

Something my mom does which I have tried to discourage for my little ones, is that she refers to food by cute names and nicknames. She never asked my niece if she wanted a piece of chocolate, she asked her if she wanted a "taste" or a snack would be a "nibble".

Working in restaurants, I noticed certain behaviors in people. One was that they were often embarrassed to be eating in front of people. The other was that they would excuse poor choices by adventure. A fat woman will never say, "I'll have the Boston cream pie." She'll say "I'll try the Boston cream pie." Apparently if you have never had "big greasy dessert" then it's OK to have it.

I saw lots of bad choices, and almost always there was a tell in the language.

"I'll just have the salad bar." And then come back with a 2,000 calorie salad.

I'm not ridiculing these people. I think this is a problem which needs to change.

The calories and the glycemic index are exactly the same for refined and whole grains. If you are slowly starving to death and living primarily off a handful of white rice and all the bugs you can eat, the white rice will kill you quicker by a week or two due to the lack of B vitamins. However, if that's your situation, you've got more important things to worry about than the USDA guidelines.

For overweight people, eating that much starch in any form (refined, unrefined, whole, fortified, etc.) is a big problem. Most people just don't work enough today to burn off all that sugar before it's stored as fat.

If I eat birthday cake, I crave hamburgers. But this year, having been a vegetarian for a few weeks, I didn't.

The calories and the glycemic index are exactly the same for refined and whole grains. If you are slowly starving to death and living primarily off a handful of white rice and all the bugs you can eat, the white rice will kill you quicker by a week or two due to the lack of B vitamins. However, if that's your situation, you've got more important things to worry about than the USDA guidelines.

For overweight people, eating that much starch in any form (refined, unrefined, whole, fortified, etc.) is a big problem. Most people just don't work enough today to burn off all that sugar before it's stored as fat.

bingo

One does not greet death when he knocks at your door.

Nay you repeatedly punch him in the throat as he slowly drags you away.

The calories and the glycemic index are exactly the same for refined and whole grains. If you are slowly starving to death and living primarily off a handful of white rice and all the bugs you can eat, the white rice will kill you quicker by a week or two due to the lack of B vitamins. However, if that's your situation, you've got more important things to worry about than the USDA guidelines.

For overweight people, eating that much starch in any form (refined, unrefined, whole, fortified, etc.) is a big problem. Most people just don't work enough today to burn off all that sugar before it's stored as fat.

while that is true, the biggest problem with white bread is that it lacks fiber, which is very important to one's diet. Since whole wheat/rice products have all their fiber, people eat less of it, and don't need the massive servings that the USDA has called for. I can attest to that from personal experience. I switched from white pasta and cut out a lot of it and the wheat pasta fills up much better than the white ever did.